Hawraa M. Kadhim; Ban J. Edan; Ali Salih Baay; Abdul Amir Kadhum; Ahmed A. Al-Amiery
Abstract
COVID-19 patients exhibit a diverse range of symptoms, with some individuals remaining entirely asymptomatic. Certain patients experience minimal or no noticeable symptoms, and in some ...
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COVID-19 patients exhibit a diverse range of symptoms, with some individuals remaining entirely asymptomatic. Certain patients experience minimal or no noticeable symptoms, and in some cases, oxygen levels significantly drop without prominent clinical manifestations, a phenomenon is known as "silent" or "happy" hypoxia, which can potentially pose substantial risks to patients. A clinical study aims to assess the significance of silent hypoxia in COVID-19 patients' clinical course and to predict risk factors associated with it. 85 confirmed COVID-19 patients with hypoxia were included in the study and exhibited room air oxygen saturation (SPO2) levels below 92%. Comprehensive patient histories and physical examinations were conducted, with the severity of breathlessness evaluated using a scale ranging from 0 to 10. Breathlessness scored below 5 was categorized as silent hypoxia. Various laboratory tests, including lymphocyte counts and serum ferritin levels, were performed. The findings of our investigation indicate that a majority of the patients in our study demonstrated favourable outcomes. Notably, no significant disparity was observed in terms of clinical outcomes between hypoxic and non-hypoxic COVID-19 patients (p>0.05). Risk factors identified including elevated body mass index (BMI), age, and increased respiratory rate (RR) are addressed in this work and diagnosed as risk factors. Silent hypoxia is a phenomenon observed among COVID-19 patients, yet it does not appear to impact patients' clinical trajectories significantly. Obesity emerges as a potential risk factor for severe disease. High BMI and elevated RR are recognized as potential risk factors associated with the occurrence of silent hypoxia.
